Manufacturing maven next up in entrepreneurship series

KALAMAZOO—The owner of the largest off-price apparel wholesaler in the Midwest will be the next speaker in the Entrepreneurship Forum at Western Michigan University.

Ed Bernard, founder of Bermo Enterprises, will speak at 8 a.m. Friday, April 12, in 2150 Schneider Hall. The event is free and open to the public and begins at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast. Reservations are required and can be made by contacting Kayla Hunt at (269) 387-6059 or kayla.j.hunt@wmich.edu. Free parking is available in the nearby Fetzer Center parking lot.

Bermo Enterprises

Bermo Enterprises Inc., a wholesaler, retailer and manufacturer of off-price sportswear, was founded in 1973 by Ed Bernard. Kalamazoo was selected as the site for the business which initially consisted of a small jeans store near the campus of Western Michigan University. Over the years, Bermo evolved into a company that now includes 12 retail locations in Michigan and Indiana, a wholesale division that is the largest off-price apparel wholesaler in the Midwest, a showroom in New York’s garment district and a manufacturing division that makes clothing under privately-owned labels, as well as under labels for which Bermo owns the licenses: Case IH, International Harvester and Farmall.

The Entrepreneurship Forum is sponsored by Educational Community Credit Union and hosted by the WMU Haworth College of Business.